OLIVE PRESS GIBRALTAR ISSUE 200

PICTURE

DOUBLE CENTURY

PANDEMICS, Brexit and vanishing distributors…None of them have been enough to stop the printers rolling for the Gibraltar Olive Press. Yes, it has certainly been a testing eight years since we launched our first edition in October 2015. Aside from the economy, border issues and of course, the horrors of Brexit (which Gibraltarians coincidentally voted 99% against), we have made it to our 200th issue. Even our very first issue was a battle, when our distributor, John Munn, failed to show up to pick up the 10,000 copies, as contracted. But we pulled through and have had a steady stream of top exclusives and investigations, ever since.

See publisher’s note, page 6

CASH OUT

Globix boss led ‘lavish lifestyle’ splashing half a million euros at Louis Vuitton and €80,000 at Fendi

THE lavish outlays of a crypto-currency conman first exposed by the Olive Press were laid bare in court this week.

Gibraltar Supreme Court heard how Gibraltarian Damian Carreras splurged €1.3 million on luxury goods and led a jet set lifestyle while his investors who funded it fretted about their money.

The Globix boss, who failed to appear to answer questions about his platform’s missing millions, allegedly splashed out over half a million euros at the Louis Vuitton shop in Puerto Banus.

He also spent €80,000 at the Fendi store next door, before popping over to Prada to tap €52,000 on his Globix credit

By Walter Finch

card.

Another €111,000 was spent at Tagore in Gibraltar, according to information revealed by prosecutor Daniel Feetham KC.

Economical

And across a months-long jolly he paid €116,000 on luxury hotels, spas and beach houses, added Feetham. Carreras had been ordered to court over €26 million of missing investors' money. However due to claims he had been receiving death threats and was worried for the safe -

ty of his partner and child, the prosecution accepted his appearance by video link. However, he failed to show at the allotted time, with Feetham labelling him as ‘economical with the truth’.

Carreras and tech officer Pavel Sidirov are wanted over allegations they syphoned €8 million and €3 million respectively from company coffers.

Liquidators are trying to trace the cash that inexplicably vanished from

Globix crypto wallets after the exchange had locked hundreds of investors out of their funds in early 2022.

In a previous hearing, the court heard Carreras has not been cooperating with London-based firm Begbies Traynor to produce the relevant documents.

Kidnap

While many of the crypto wallets have been identified and frozen, Carreras and Sidirov have refused to identify their own personal wallets. However, they

MISSING: Carreras failed to show at court and (above) our first exclusive report

were finally uncovered by fellow crypto firm, Binance, which has now disclosed them.

Carreras previously released a statement declaring his ‘respect for the legal process and my willingness to cooperate in every way possible.’

Sidirov maintains that the ‘funds disappeared in Ukraine’ and that he only received ‘€200,000 to €300,000’ for his

role running the platform ‘as a freelancer.’

Yet the Ukraine tale, prompted by the reported kidnapping of Sidirov in Alicante last year, has been labelled ‘unreliable’. Liquidators hired to unravel the inner workings of the crypto exchange and trace the missing funds consider it to be a wild good chase, according to court documents.

THIS: We track down photographers who took long lost unpublished snaps of John and Yoko’s Gib wedding

Building tensions

DEVELOPERS want to build a new international college with flats, shops and sports facilities at the site of the current Cross of Sacrifice on Devil’s Tower Road.

Waiting game

A MAN lay alive on the floor of his Gibraltar home for five days after a heart attack before dying in hospital a week after emergency services found him.

Chief cleared

A MAGISTRATE cleared Police Commissioner Ian McGrail of sexual assault of a former woman officer after a seven-day trial.

Safe waters

A GROUP of UK

Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society, which boasts 450 members worldwide, visited the Naval Base to hear of efforts to defend local waters.

RACHEL Williams, who survived an 18year abusive relationship that led to her partner shooting her, briefed police officers about domestic abuse.

Williams, who was on the Rock for the Minister for Equality’s Fireside Chat, bears life-altering injuries after the brutal attack.

Officers watched a reconstruction of the crime made for Judge Rinder’s ITV crime stories.

A TRIO of squatters who brutally assaulted a British man on the Costa del Sol have been arrested.

Police snared them at the owner’s apartment in Manilva, where he was attacked after he asked them to leave.

They are being investigated for stealing electricity and furniture, as well as drug trafficking, police revealed.

The family man, from Liverpool, had been attacked after flying over to sort out the problem at his property.

The 52-year-old had jumped into action after a neighbour notified him there were three squatters living at the property.

Abuse chat

“When talking with the officers, Rachel focussed on the lessons that needed to be learned by police forces when dealing with the victims of Domestic Abuse,” a police spokesperson said.

Police Sergeant Mary De Santos talked about the speech as the lead officer on domestic abuse.

“Rachel’s talk highlighted to officers the need to understand the impact their interaction has on a victim and the importance of empathy when taking the victims account,” Sgt De Santos said. “It also explored the thought processes of a victim when they decide to report the abuse – or not,” she added. Williams delivers talks to UK police, prosecutors and even government ministers.

Squatter attack

Trio of illegal occupiers are accused of assault and drugdealing at British owned home

By Alberto Lejarraga

When he arrived at the complex of 700 apartments, he was told by residents to call the police. However, he refused to call the authorities, preferring to go to the property by himself. When he tried to open the flat’s The Englishman then spotted an open window and accessed the property through it.

Indecent pictures

POLICE have charged a Gibraltar man with having indecent images of a child and remanded him in custody. The Digital Forensics Team of the Royal Gibraltar Police arrested the unnamed man on May 10.

Prosecutors have now charged him with going against a sexual prevention order, trying to get an indecent photograph of a child, taking or publishing it and possessing it. All the offences are part of the 2011 Crimes Act. He is scheduled to appear before the Magistrates Court on June 15.

door, though, he discovered the lock had been changed. He then rang the doorbell on several occasions, but got no answer. BOTTLED: Owner was left bloodied

Once inside, he walked to the living room as he heard voices coming from there.

The Brit saw three men and asked them what they were doing in his house. The squatters are said to have responded in a violent manner and assaulted him, with alarming photos emerging on social media. According to sources one of the assailants hit him with a glass bottle over the head and he received multiple cuts.

Marines deny violence

EIGHT Royal Marines charged with varying offences of attacking Gibraltar police and unlawful violence during an Ocean Village brawl in April have opted for a jury trial in September.

The soldiers allegedly injured police officers who were trying to arrest them at 4am before using captor spray and batons to subdue them.

The eight men between 20 and 42-years-old have now pleaded not guilty to the crimes. It means they will stand trial before a civilian jury in the former fortress city.

Charged

Malaga Hospital confirmed the victim had a fractured finger as well as cuts in the left kidney, the back and left side.

“They almost killed him,” a neighbour revealed.

After the attack, he went to a police station to file a complaint against the squatters for housebreaking and assault. However, the squatters also filed a complaint against him accusing him of the same thing. A police spokesman told the Olive Press: “Both sides filed allegations and the trio are now facing an investigation. We cannot reveal anything else.”

Prosecutors also charged Anthony Houghton and Samuel Bates with Assault occasioning actual bodily harm for allegedly attacking a member of the public during the brawl. Magistrates released Houghton, Bates as well as the other defendants Graham Tait, Cameron Bull, Kyle Connell, Connor Holborn, Sandy Dove and Rodui Aitchison on bail until September.

A UK national newspaper even released a video of the incident which will undoubtedly be part of the evidence. They will also have to argue against the testimonies of the police officers and witnesses at the forthcoming trial.

Rocking chair rockers

By Dilip Kuner

CHUCK BERRY may have been dubbed the Father of Rock, but Spain is about to welcome a slew of stars who could be called the ‘Grandads of Rock’.

Leading the way (in terms of age) is Welsh superstar Sir Tom Jones. He will be taking to the stage at the Starlite Festival in Marbella (hopefully without the need of a zimmer frame) on July 10.

While some might think it is a bit odd to still be performing at the age of 83, Sir Tom probably thinks It’s Not Unusual.

And he

Pull up your surgical stockings, put in your teeth, straighten your toupee and get ready to party

would be right.

Fellow octogenarian Bob Dylan, 82, is certainly not leaving his fans Blowing in the Wind, and will treat them to some of his most famous tunes in Barcelona on June 23 and 24.

The ever sprightly Rod Stewart will be bringing his

78-year-old Hot Legs to Starlite on July 21 while Yusuf Cat Stevens still thinks it is a pretty Wild World when such a glitzy festival shoves wads of cash into his 74-year-old hands for his June 21 show. Meanwhile, 76-year old Iggy Pop brings his 20-date world tour to Marbella on August 2. He will have been flying round the globe from Europe

BIG WEDGE

HER ancestor the Duke of Wellington made his name stomping round Spain in his famous wellies, and now Eleanor Wellesley is looking to the same country for footwear inspiration. But the 27-year-old niece to the current dukewho is also the 10th Duque de Ciudad Rodrigo and has a 2,400 acre estate in Granada gifted by the Spanish government - has set her sights lower on the social scale than her illustrious foreShe has launched her own brand of shoes espadrilles - the traditional canvas and woven grass footwear worn by farmers in Spain in the past. But her high-wedge espadrilles are perhaps not suited to peasants, especially with a price tag of €530.

CAN YOU SEE ME? THEN SO CAN ALL OUR READERS

The Moving onto something a bit heavier, 77-year-old Ian Gillan will be taking to the stage with Deep Purple (no, we are not talking about the colour of his veins) at the Rock Imperium Festival in Cartagena on July 24.

The next day, Gene Simmons, 73, will Kiss goodbye to Spain at the same venue with one of the colourful band’s last dates ever. No doubt he and his infamous bandmates will be growing old disgracefully as they Rock and Roll All Nite.

And just in case you aren’t already feeling ancient as your childhood heroes strut their stuff, the surprisingly old (to some of us) Michael Bolton (70) and Sting (71) are also heading to Marbella on June 30 and Pamplona on December 16, respectively. But at least we can take refuge in the far more youthful Seal, who will be performing at Starlite on July 7.

At a mere 60-years-old he gives the younger generation something to look forward to…

YOUR BUSINESS COULD BE AS VISUAL AS THIS FROM AS LITTLE AS £50 AN ISSUE

FEMALE

house hunters (and no doubt some men too) will have their hearts set a flutter when estate agent Tony Company shows them round. The chiseled 27-year-old has been officially voted as the most handsome man in Spain at the Mister International Spain competition in Tener ife. Company, from Pal ma (Mallorca) is 189 cm (6’2”) tall and has already been turning heads as Mister Balea rics for a year. He is not just a pretty face. He got a degree in International Ho tel Management and a Master’s in Manage ment before settling into life as an estate agent specialising in luxury rentals.

THE UK’s oldest known Red Kite has died 29 years after he was hatched in Spain.

‘Aragon’ was part of a programme to reintroduce the species to England and arrived in the Thames Valley in 1994. He was recently found injured outside a school in Oxfordshire and later died at a bird sanctuary. His ring identified him as one of the second batch of chicks reintro duced.

His survival to the ripe old age of 29 surprised experts who did not know how long the first chicks had survived. The reintroduction of the species has been a huge success, with an estimated 6,000 breeding pairs in the UK. But now it is the once robust Span ish population which is in trou ble. There are only 11 breeding pairs in Caceres province and just four within Badajoz. Brit ish birds are now being rein troduced into the homeland of their Spanish ancestors.

Hot property Kite down

IGGY POP

TOM JONES

Tunnel delays

THE Kingsway tunnel under the runway will be partially closed for maintenance between 9pm and 6am from June 12-15.

After heavy use of the tunnelwhich opened on April 1 - the roads will now be examined and any damage repaired. One tunnel will be shut at a time, with a contraflow system put in place in the other tunnel to keep traffic moving.

Pedestrians and cyclists are being warned that the smaller tunnel from Eastern Beach will be patched up in the evening of June 14.

No place for hate

GIBRALTAR’S Minister for Equality said that ‘harassment of LGBTQ+ people continues to feature in the news and this is something that needs to stop’.

Rainbow flags will fly at the frontier, government building, hospital and police station to celebrate LGBTQ+ rights this month before the Pride March on June 24.

Minister for Equality Samantha Sacramento said she was ‘looking forward’ to the Pride march that would mark a month of recognition for people with same-sex relationships.

Gibraltar Strait orca attack pod may be led by a ‘revenge-seeking’ female, who lost her calf

A SPATE of killer whale attacks on yachts entering the Strait of Gibraltar has sparked fierce debate about what is behind it.

Researchers claim it might be orchestrated by a single, revenge-seeking female orca named Gladys - or ‘White Gladys’.

Some claim she lost her calf to the propellers of a ship, while others insist she got caught up in fishing nets or underwater rope.

They continue she has since taught her fellow orcas - some of the most intelligent and social creatures on the planethow to target and attack small vessels.

"The orcas are doing this on purpose, of course, we don't know the origin or the motivation, but defensive behaviour based on trauma, as

By Walter Finch

the origin of all this, gains more strength for us every day," Alfredo López Fernandez, a biologist at the University of Aveiro said.

But Sebastien Destremau, captain of The Lancelot, which was attacked two weeks ago, dismissed the claims. “Having witnessed it, it's so easy for these beasts to sink us if they want to,” he insisted after 20 of the behemoths swarmed his fragile ship.

“If they were out for revenge, I think I would have been swimming home.” Instead, he suspects the orcas may have been engaging in play or training their young to hunt, as yacht rudders resemble the fins of their primary

Hell hath no fury… like ‘White Gladys’

prey - fellow whales.

“They could crush the boat in a heartbeat if they wanted to,” added Destremau.

“But they were not aggressive. They were just coming in very gently, placing their nose wherever they wanted to place it, and pushing hard.” The real danger, he emphasises, is to the killer whales themselves.

“I am very concerned about the near future for these beasts and I think we have a huge responsibility to protect these animals," he added to Newsweek

The solo round the world yachtsman is particularly worried that with the media emphasising the aggression sailors are now getting armed to fire at them if they come under attack. That said, he confirmed how ‘terrifying’ the incident was at the time.

“At first, I thought it was wind coming in really fast... And so I started to drop the sail a little bit and then I

turned around again to look at where the wind was and I thought, 'Wait, that's not wind, that's fish. Those are orcas!'”

With approximately 20 orcas approaching, he made the decision to lower the sails in hopes that the stationary boat would lose their interest. Yet the orcas persisted.

“They started to come closer and closer. They started to have a look and a little bit of a sniff and then, suddenly, 'BANG,' that was a big one," he explained.

The orcas targeted the ship's rudder, displaying their impressive power as they pushed against it.

Within minutes, the bottom of the rudder shattered, creating potential risks for the boat. But despite the scary situation, no human has ever been harmed by the pod of orcas, and it was up to humans to adapt to the mammals, not the other way round.

“It's their world, it's not ours,” he concluded.

IT has taken six years, but now the state-of-the-art Lathbury Sports Complex, which the government called ‘a feat of engineering’, is open.

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and Minister for Sport Steven Linares officially opened the new public sports facility. It features a football pitch, running track, rifle range, Olympic-size swimming pool and parking for locally-based business Bassadone Motors.

The four year delay for the facilities was put down to COVID-19, Brexit and travel issues.

Digging out 60,000 cubic metres of solid limestone rock was another reason for the delay.

Sporting ‘feat’ Summer fun

THE summer sports programme for children will start early after three local schools announced they would close their doors sooner than normal. Art classes, dance sessions, outdoor storytelling, photography workshops and cultural tours will also keep kids busy over summer.

The Gibraltar Sports and Leisure Authority (GSLA) said it will start running the weekday sports programme from July 3 from 9am to 12.30pm.

The scheme is an hour longer than usual, allowing parents to work out of term time.

All other schools will close at the normal time of the year a week later in July.

ACTING MAYOR

Actress Carmen Gomez inaugurated as Christian Santos says goodbye

CHIEF Minister Fabian Picardo welcomed the ‘remarkable’ Carmen Gomez as mayor of Gibraltar as he thanked the ‘extraordinary’ Christian Santos for his two years of service.

Actress and journalist Gomez became the 20th mayor of the Rock, having previously acted in West End theatre and toured the world.

Picardo also saluted the ‘exceptional’ Nicky Guerrero to the role of deputy governor after he retired as CEO of the Gibraltar Tourist Board in 2021.

The investiture of the new mayor was held at Gibraltar’s City Hall.

Picardo’s speech was full of praise for Santos, playing up his ‘enthusiasm and energy that has defined everything he has been involved in’.

“Together with his husband Samuel, he has ensured that Gibraltar continues to shine the beacon of community, diversity and harmony that we so cherish and enjoy,” Picardo said.

“Under the ‘We Are One’ campaign, Christian has represented every single Gibraltarian of every religion or none, of every sexual orientation, of every ethnicity.”

Santos had throughout May said goodbye to the charities and associations he worked with during the last two years in receptions held at the Mayor’s Parlour. He moved on to Gomez who the Chief Minister said ‘has been a constant presence in our lives, representing Gibraltar with grace and dignity both locally and on international stages’.

“Her journey from the Gibraltar Drama Festivals to the hallowed halls of the West End is a testament to her remarkable

UN face-off

CHIEF Minister Fabian Picardo has reminded Spain that by giving the Rock to the British ‘in perpetuity’ at the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, it could not have any ‘sovereignty dispute’ in relation to Gibraltar.

The argument was part of a speech which he used at the UN Committee of 24 in New York, where he spoke in favour of Gibraltar’s self-determination.

He said that the British overseas territory had the right to choose its own destiny under the General Assembly Resolution 1514 of international law.

The Chief Minister dedicated the speech to the children of Gibraltar, as ‘theirs is the future of the Rock, always’.

We have liftoff!

WRECK removers started lifting the two broken sections of the OS 35 from the seabed on Saturday.

Protective barriers to trap any leaked oil were first placed along Gibraltar’s eastern coastline.

The government described how the contractors had made ‘meticulous preparations’ to carry out ‘a robust spill response plan’.

Government agencies increased their presence during the lifting operation although they did not plan to close the port.

The OS 35 ran aground at Eastern Beach on August 29 after the bulk carrier hit another ship as it left the Bay of Gibraltar. Meanwhile, the captain of the ship, Abdelabari Kaddura, 53, who police charged with causing the incident, has been given a four month suspended sentence.

By John Culatto

talent, unwavering determination, and unyielding commitment to her craft,” Picardo said.

“She has played many roles in the theatre and on television and her considerable charisma will serve her well in the new role she is about to take on.”

Finally, he praised Guerrero who he said, ‘demonstrated exceptional leadership and a deep commitment to promoting Gibraltar.

Golfing challenge

A FORMER pro golfer is hoping to raise €10,000 for Gibraltar’s Cancer Relief and Centro Contigo in La Linea in a charity golf marathon challenge on July 5.

Former European Tour player David Steele will be inviting people to play up to nine rounds of golf with him at the San Roque Golf Course.

He said it will be his final charity golf marathon and is aiming to make it a special occasion for amateur and professional players alike.

Steele played over 22 rounds of golf during nearly 15 hours in 2021, raising €50,000 for charity.

Members of the San Roque Golf Club will be able to play up to nine rounds with Steele and non-members will get special prices. There will be prizes for the best amateur score and quickest rounds.

WELCOME: For Gomez & thanks to Santos

STARTED: Lifting operation

Voted top expat paper in Spain

A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in Spain with an estimated readership, including the websites, of more than two million people a month.

OPINION

Proud to serve you!

IT was easily one of the proudest moments of the Olive Press’s 17-year history.

Distribution Day - or D-Day, as September 15, 2015, became known - saw the entire team of 12, including admin, journalists and sales people, jump into action with the first issue (right) of the Gibraltar Olive Press

Setting off from our office in Manilva in five different cars we had no choice but to distribute 10,000 copies to nearly 100 drops around the Rock. Wearing bespoke red and green Olive Press Gibraltar t-shirts we got papers into all the key locations traipsing up and down the entire enclave. Job done, we sat back and were delighted with the response with numerous emails of support and, crucially, dozens of new clients.

While it has been anything but easy servicing businesses on the Rock and responding to their needs, we continue to cover the key stories here, plus the most interesting and colourful across the border.

More crucially, we publish a continual drip-drip of stories online, where at times 15 to 20% of all our 20,000-visitors-a-day come from Gibraltar.

We know you like what we do and, we hope, you will come back and support our free publication in the years to come. After all, our main journalist, John Culatto, is a Gibraltarian and the rest of our team regularly comes in to visit.

I myself was in just last week and had a lovely lunch up at the Rock hotel after visiting friends and clients. There is something very special about the enclave and I look forward to the next 200 editions.

Yours

Jon Clarke PUBLISHER

Please Mr Post man

EXCLUSIVE:

THE photos of John Lennon and Yoko Ono posing after getting married in front of the Rock of Gibraltar are among the most seminal from the Rock n Roll vaults of fame.

The iconic shots that have appeared in thousands of publications and dozens of documentaries show perfectly the depths of love the Beatles lead singer and his Japanese paramour were in.

The story has been recounted to death, but like so many chapters in the life of the world’s most famous band, there is a back story almost as interesting.

And in this case it’s a darker one, for the set of photos - and others taken during the period in 1969 - were stolen, leading to a half-century

closer to finding the negatives and explaining, at last, what happened to them.

It comes after the Olive Press received two anonymous letters from an individual in America named only as ‘R Sheelly’, with nearly two dozen copies of the negatives inside. Some blown up on card-

ANONYMOUS: But detailed and intriguing letters from America

board, some as part of a contact sheet, they arrived two weeks apart, posted from Colorado and gave few clues to the sender’s identification. But what they did do was bring one of the most exciting times in British music history very much back to life.

The photos, including John Lennon wearing a silly hat, reading a newspaper on a plane, and canoodling with his new wife - as well as posing at the registry office and signing the marriage forms - have only once been seen before. And that is in the book of the man who borrowed them before they mysteriously vanished. Poring through them was like watching a decades-old cold case come back to life before our very eyes: The blackened embers of one of the greatest mysteries in Beatles history spluttering and sparking up once more.

Stamped from Fort Collins, Colorado (a ‘fake address’) on April 25, the first letter teased us with promises of new leads and a tantalising clue behind the legendary negatives, missing for nearly five decades.

PUBLISHER / EDITOR

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es

Dilip Kuner dilip@theolivepress.es

Alberto Lejarraga alberto@theolivepress.es

Jo Chipchase jo@theolivepress.es

John Culatto

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AWARDS

The second letter, a week after we published a story on the first letter, expressed the writer’s pleasure at making print and reaffirmed her goal - to get the missing photos ‘back to the photographer who took them’.

But first, we have to travel back to the spring of 1969,

NO HABLO INGLES

The PP’s leadership hopeful joins a long line of Spanish politicians with no English

LEADERSHIP hopeful Alberto Nunez Feijoo of the Popular Party (PP) made a candid confession on live television last week: with around 50 days to go until the snap general election called by adversary, Pedro Sanchez, he does not speak English.

Speaking on a talk show, he added that his linguistic problems were shared with ‘the majority of Spaniards’. Although he does, however, speak Galician as well as Castilian Spanish and as such described himself as ‘bilingual’. But Feijoo has also struggled with names in English, not

just the language, recently mangling Bruce Springsteen’s name to call him ‘Bruce Sprinter’.

Prime Minister Sanchez will be a tough act to follow when it comes to the language of Shakespeare.

Sanchez speaks very good English, and during his five years in office has used it to great effect – whether in live interviews on US TV, or at international summits. But it turns out he is a real anomaly. In fact, Sanchez is the only prime minister since Spain returned to democracy able to fluently speak it while in office.

As for the other leaders and politicians, there have been a series of gaffes that have left them looking rather silly.

Former PP Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy famously sat

and a time of the Apollo program and sexual emancipation, when the soul of a young generation was unleashed by a new brand of rock’n’roll.

The fabled Summer of Love was imminent, New York was gearing up for Woodstock, and the Beatles had just played their last ever public performance.

Lennon, by now one of the greatest icons in pop music, had eloped with his controversial lover, Yoko Ono, often dubbed a groupie and hanger on.

They had chosen to wed in the one place where the press would not be able to hound them - at the registry office in Gibraltar.

At the peak of General Franco’s embargo of the British-held peninsula, the region was isolated and inaccessible, the border closed and flights limited.

John and Yoko flew out on March 20, 1969, and there they met a young London hipster photographer, David Nutter, who was handed the ‘secret assignment’ and had no clue of who his subjects were to be.

“I was told to come to Gibraltar with my camera and no questions asked,” Nutter told the Olive Press.

Londoner Nutter is a fabled snapper whose career spanned the golden era of rock and pop, working with luminaries such as Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Elton John and the Beatles themselves.

The ‘magical’ day of the wedding featured just a few close friends and family of the couple - Paul McCartney absent - and no press. Nutter snapped away as the couple, who were like lovebirds the minute they landed at Gibraltar airport, trooped over to the local registry office and got married, giddy and in high spirits. The pair then embarked onto their famous down for a meeting with his British counterpart David Cameron and uttered the classic line: “It’s very difficult todo esto…” Meanwhile

PP leader Jose Maria Aznar did his best to speak English while in office, but it wasn’t until

he left politics that he really got the hang of it. (As a side note, he spoke Spanish in a Texan accent while in the United States in 2003, for reasons that were never fully clear).

But perhaps the most famous incident involving a Spanish politician and English was when Ana Botella, Aznar’s wife and the then-mayor of Madrid, gave her famous speech to

the Olympic Committee when the city was bidding to be host. Her phrase: “There is nothing like a relaxing cup of cafe con leche in the Plaza Mayor” became an immediate hit, and remains something of a meme all these years later. For much of the Spanish political class, in particular the PP, it would appear that some serious study is still needed.

Two extraordinary letters to the Olive Press have breathed fresh life back into one of the key celluloid mysteries in the Rock n Roll hall of fame

EXCLUSIVE

By Jon Clarke & Walter Finch

man

‘bed-in’ protest for six days in the honeymoon suite at the Amsterdam Hilton, harnessing the interest in their wedding to promote their message of peace.

The remarkable series of photos continued well beyond the wedding day. Nutter would also go on to capture the legendary duo back in New York in their Greenwich Village studio, on their rooftop and even in their kitchen.

One incredible photo captures Lennon on an aeroplane reading a newspaper dated to April 11, 1970 with the headline Astronaut - We May Die from the Apollo 13 catastrophe averted.

But then disaster really did strike - when Nutter ‘stupidly’ lent the negatives to a friend while they were living in New York in the mid 1970s.

The recipient, Anthony Fawcett, who had been an assistant to John and Yoko at the time, was writing a biography called John Lennon: One Day At A Time, published in 1980.

But the negatives in Fawcett’s possession inexplicably vanished after his New York apartment was either repossessed or a quick-fingered guest pinched them - Fawcett has suspiciously given conflicting reports.

Included in the missing batch, taken on Nutter’s Nikon camera, were a dozen never-before published photos of the wedding day in Gibraltar alone.

In the ones seen by the Olive Press (with three published here today) they are seen posing coolly for the camera and lounging on a private jet (see above right). There were also a number of strips from scenes at the registry office itself as John and Yoko went through the legal process of signing the papers on one of the most famous rock and roll marriages of all time.

Understandably upset at the loss, Nutter reported the crime, which led to separate investigations by London’s Metropolitan Police and, later, America’s FBI, but to no avail.

Indeed, a 1983 letter from Southwark Police to Nutter, seen by the Olive Press, shows that officers questioned Fawcett at his home in south London.

Fawcett told them he ‘knew who had the negatives’

and would contact Nutter - whose brother was famous Savile Row tailor, Tommy Nutter - with the information. But in the end, he never did.

And despite Nutter’s best efforts to track down the missing negativesconservatively valued now at around €150,000 - the trail went dead for many years, leaving Nutter bereft.

The first faint sparks of life flickered briefly for the case back in 2005, when world-renowned Beatles memorabilia expert Peter Miniaci claimed he had received an email offering him ‘some rare John and Yoko wedding photos’.

“I was suspicious and asked if the sender had the rights to the images, to which it was claimed that ‘the photographer is dead’ so I didn’t need to worry about it,” he told the

Press in 2016, when we took up the baton.

But, as the Olive Press discovered in a two-part investigation, Nutter was certainly far from dead, and was still alive and living in New York. Where he is today.

Curiously, as we discovered seven years ago, another photographer, American Brian Hamill, had also had photos of John and Yoko - captured in New York in October 1972 - stolen from him. Having been stored in the Getty archives, they were officially declared as ‘misfiled’ after officials were not able to locate them. Hamill was awarded a paltry $10,000 in compensation.

Yet, shockingly, these same missing photos mysteriously appeared - alongside Nutter’s missing ones - in Fawcett’s Lennon biography, now a long time out of print. Lennon was shot dead the same year it came out in 1980.

Even more mysteriously Hamill also told the Olive Press how he had been offered the opportunity of buying them back in 2010.

It came over lunch in New York, via a lawyer representing an unnamed woman, who offered to ‘broker’ a shady deal in which Hamill would effectively purchase his own photos.

In a letter to the FBI’s Stolen Art Recovery Unit, he wrote that the loss of those images ‘feel like the loss of my memories and, therefore, a piece of my identity.’

“The FBI did next to nothing to help me out when I reported this,” Hamill told us in 2016.

He pointed the finger squarely at Fawcett, insisting we should investigate him.

We said we would try to locate them, however, despite our best efforts to track down the negatives, our efforts came to little.

But we were able to track down a 62-year-old Beatles biographer in the Far East, who issued instructions that the fee for the negatives would be £5,600, he put us in touch with

Our reporter was told to ‘send 90%’ of the agreed price after two contact sheets showing the original negatives were sent as proof of ownership.

After a week of exchanges, two remarkable never-before-seen contact sheets from the wedding were emailed over.

But when the seller (wrongly) suspected our undercover reporter was working for Yoko Ono, he launched into a vile tirade against her before threatening to sue and ending contact.

When we finally approached Fawcett about the negatives back in 2016, he replied: “These were in fact stolen from my New York apartment around 1976 along with everything else from my flat.

“Yoko Ono was extremely upset that these negatives were stolen, and has asked my help many times to try to get them back.”

Nutter admitted he was heartbroken and after adding he was struggling financially, he said he had ‘sort of given up.’ It was ominous.

The fate of the negatives seemed destined to forever remain a mystery.

That is until May 11 this year, when we received our first letter from the apparent Good Samaritan in the USA - ‘a real shot in the dark’, the writer admitted.

In the typed letter addressed to editor Jon Clarke, which left no return address or name, the individual explained she had actually had the missing negatives in her hands in 2011, but did not realise their significance.

Over around 10 short paragraphs she went on to explain that someone had arrived at her office ‘where she worked at the time’ and had taken a set of negatives to her boss, whom she declined to name.

She added that the mystery seller had brought the items hoping to make a profit, but the company had eventually declined, and the negatives remained in the mystery seller’s hands.

“Perhaps the issue of rights came up,” she added.

NEVER SEEN: Lennon on a plane reading the tabloids and three strips of never published negtives. Photos by David Nutter the mysterious seller.

Either way, in the short time the collection had been in the office, she had made digital scans of the negatives in order for her boss to evaluate them and was amazed to see photos of ‘John and Yoko.’ “I’ve been a fan of the Beatles, particularly John Lennon, since I was a kid.

Because of this they had decided not to check what was on it for fear it might be malicious.

“We will now be looking into this,” a spokesman told us. “Thanks for the call.”

The letter writer herself meanwhile appealed to us to help her hand-deliver the scans to the photographers in person.

“I would love to meet Mr Nutter and talk with him about his photographs.

“This is a real shot in the dark with no guarantees it will work, but I’m hopeful,” she concluded.

In the second letter, she wrote: “I’m hopeful these photos will find their way to David and if they bring him new fame and money after all these years, that would be a wonderful outcome.”

When the Olive Press finally managed to track Nutter down to his Manhattan home again this week, he told us it would be ‘fabulous’ to finally receive digital scans of the original negatives.

The pain of ‘betrayal’ and’ losing something very valuable and dear’ to him has lingered for decades.

“I would feel very relieved and ever so grateful just to have anything, even if I don’t do anything with them, but just to have them,” he told us by phone.

And he went on to recall the ‘surreal’ time he had with the two icons of the Sixties, in which he appears in one photo (see left).

“It was an incredible day in Gibraltar, It really was,” Nutter reminisced. “They were in such a good mood. And they were very funny and we had a really good laugh, and it was just wonderful.”

As the Beatles sang in their 1963 cover ‘Please Mr Postman’: Wait, oh yes, wait a minute Mr Postman Wait, wait Mr Postman Mr Postman, look and see

Is there a letter in your bag for me?

I think the photos are wonderful,” she wrote. And coming to the point, she added: “I recently remembered (out of the blue) that one envelope had David Nutter’s name written on it.” When she did an internet search she came across our investigation of Nutter’s missing negatives from 2016, and suddenly understood the importance of the scans she had made in 2011.

“I feel real sympathy for Mr Nutter’s plight and I want to get the scans to him,” she wrote. She added she has also sent a copy of the entire set to the Aperture Foundation in New York, a non-profit that supports photographers as a form of art, in the hope that they would be able to get them to Nutter and Hamill.

But the foundation appeared clueless to the saga when contacted this week, although did eventually confirm that they had received a pen drive, but without

The starstruck photographer was even dragged in to serve as a witness for the marriage ceremony.

“They actually spelled my name wrong on the marriage certificate. Otherwise, it was magical.”

The 84-year-old added he would gladly meet in person with the ‘kind’ anonymous letter writer who got in touch with the Olive Press and asked us to try and set up a meeting.

“I would happily chat about the Beatles and the golden era that we lived through back then,” he continued. We also got in touch with New-Yorker Hamill, who told us the prospect of having the scans would be ‘just dandy.’

“Are you kidding?” he then cried jubilantly down the phone. “I’d be delighted.”

He told us: “I tell my daughter how important journalism is, and I want to say thank you so much for doing this.”

Thus the enigmatic saga, heading towards its 50th year, might finally reach a bittersweet conclusion, as we now await our mystery letter writer to continue the correspondence.

Help, we need somebody…yes, it’s over to you Ms secret letter writer, now we need a number!

Olive

FIRST SEEN: Yoko and Lennon and (below) with photographer David Nutter

ON TOP OF THE WORLD

After a Spanish-loving British architect won the prestigious global Pritzker prize, the Olive Press takes a look at Sir David Chipperfield’s buildings in Spain

PERCHED on a Valencia shoreline, the horizontal planes of the striking America’s Cup building cut through the sky, like the white capped wakes of sailboats.

The emblematic building, Veles e Vents (or Sails and Winds), in Valencia port, is often singled out as Costa Blanca’s most

captivating constructions. But how many people know it was designed by British architect Sir David Chipperfield, 69, whose lifetime achievements have just landed the Pritzker Prize, the industry’s highest honour.

The gong - dubbed the ‘Nobel of architecture’ - is awarded annually to the living architect who has best contributed to the built landscape with consistent talent, vision and commitment.

Past winners include Rafael Moneo, I.M Pei, Zaha Hadid and, last year, Francis Kere. “Chipperfield is assured without hubris, consistently avoiding trendiness to con-

AWARD WINNING DESIGNS

Chipperfield is currently working on a renovation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Southwest Wing in New York City, as well as projects in Stockholm, Venice and Moscow. His award-winning designs include the River and Rowing Museum, in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire (left) and the Museo Jumex in Mexico City (right).

front and sustain the connections between tradition and innovation, serving history and humanity,”

CIUTAT DE JUSTICÍA

The Ciutat de la Justíca masterfully unites the legal courts of Barcelona and L’Hospitalet, consolidating what were once 17 buildings across the two cities into a mere eight buildings, situated in a bright public plaza. Chipperfield has injected colour and dynamism into his design - the pink, green, yellow and blue buildings vary in volume and none of the buildings stand parallel to one another - contesting the visually monolithic tradition of legal buildings.

said Chairman Tom Pritzker, at the ceremony in Greece in May. A climate change and social inequality activist, Chipperfield’s buildings are known for restraint in design and in materials.

He makes preserving ‘place-hood’ a top priority in his work, using locally sourced materials and paying homage to the natural and architectural landscapes of their locations. Chipperfield, who founded his London-based practice in 1985, is not just the visionary behind Veles e Vents, which was built for the America’s Cup and is a brilliant visual link between the Med and the city of Valencia.

He also designed the amazing Ciutat de la Justícia in Barcelona, a colourful eight building complex of the legal courts of the Barcelona and L’Hospitalet governments. It is not just Chipperfield’s designs

DOING JUSTICE TO COLOUR: Chipperfield’s Cuitat de Justicia

which find a home in Spain.

Since 1995, the architect has savoured bayside views from a striking holiday home up in Galicia (pictured right).

In the unostentatious fishing village of Corrubedo, the home blends a modernist style into an ordinary terrace beside a harbour.

As with the Galicia home, it is ingenuity, rather than a distinctly Chipperfield style, that imbues his body of work with lasting elegance. “We know that, as architects, we can have a more prominent and engaged role in creating not only a more beautiful world but a fairer and more sustainable one too,” Chipperfield said at the ceremony in Athens.

“We must rise to this challenge and help inspire the next generation to embrace this responsibility with vision and courage.”

EPITOME OF COOL

VELES E VENTS

Built for the America’s Cup, it is a visual link between the Mediterranean Sea and the city of Valencia. Designed by David Chipperfield and Fermin Vazquez with a simple, minimalist style, the building is 25m high and has a surface area of 10,500 m2; the incorporation of horizontal platforms provides shade for the terraces, from which visitors can enjoy marvellous views not only over the marina and beaches, but over the entire city itself.

POWER OF PLACEHOOD: Chipperfield’s buildings are designed with the history and culture of their locations in mind.

PIC CREDIT: IWAN BAAN

BEAT THE HEAT

IN June and July, as the mercury soars, we all need respite from the sweltering heat.

To get ahead of the challenge, here are some interior design tips to keep your home cool - and stylish - during the hottest months of the year. Whether you are lucky (an anything-is-possible home builder or handyman), or plucky (a keep-cooland-carry-on stoic), the number one piece of advice is: Don’t let the heat in!

If you’re building from scratch, the golden rule is: Windows exposed to direct sunlight become radiators, so set them back under bulkheads,

Cool interior design tips for the sizzling spanish summer, writes Julia Begbie

overhangs, and louvres. But if your home is built you’ll need to embrace shade, and the most effective cooling strategies for existing buildings include:

1. Applying window film to reflect heat

2. Installing awnings (toldos*), sail shades and pergolas to keep the sun off windows

3. Fitting external blinds (persianas*) to block the sun completely

4. Insulate and ventilate the roof.

Solar-powered roof vents help to release hot air that gets trapped inside. (ED: our Velux windows achieve a similar affect)

*With toldos, choose light colours to help reflect the sun’s rays, and for traditional-style homes look at traditional materials such as esparto grass, see examples at MIV Interiores

Other tips

TRADITIONAL: Esparto blinds are cool

Otherwise (perhaps counter-intuitively to some) keep your windows shut when the sun is up, and consider installing mosquito screens so you can throw windows wide open at night.

If possible, open windows to create a through-draught. Magnetic mosquito door curtains are an inexpensive and effective solution. At times of abundant water, i.e. not right now, hose down your balconies and patios at dusk. Harness the cooling effect of evaporation to reduce radiant heat outside as you throw open your windows at night. If it’s important to match your hose to your house – or, for that matter, to your handbag - check out the exquisite range from Garden Glory And, by way of an eco-apology for that last suggestion, choose the most energy efficient appliances and light bulbs available. Energy-efficient appliances not only save money on energy bills, but also generate less heat, helping to keep your home cooler. And if you want hot food, cook outside in the evening: everyone loves a barbecue.

From a small sitting room to the hottest new restaurant, we will assist in creating your vision. With over a decade of experience, based between Barcelona and London. Curating a bespoke design plan using the best local and international artisans.

References and testimonials available.

hello@sedesigns.studio www.sedesigns.studio

WhatsApp: (+44) 7775 782 418

Big fan

Just as evaporation cools your terrace, it can also cool your body. Electric fans don’t change interior temperatures, but the wind chill effect of air moving over your body helps evaporate sweat and creates a cooling effect. Magnovent sells stylish ceiling fans, but remember to turn your fans off while you’re out; they don’t shift the mercury. That deals with physical heat, now to psychological heat. What decorative measures make for a chilled look? In terms of colour, think cool and refreshing. Light colours like white, beige, and pale blues and greens reflect sunlight, conveying a sense of coolness and calm.

Ceiling fans stir the air and create movement in gauzy fabrics like sheer linen and muslin, visually supporting the sense of breeze.

Look at suppliers like Mark Alexander, a company producing

light linens, perfect for a stylish Spanish summer.

Replace any thick

rugs and carpets with lightweight, natural fibre options like jute or sisal. Let the jungle in Houseplants add greenery and help purify the air and regulate humidity levels, so incorporate nature within your home for a cooler, more refreshing atmosphere.

Opt for low-maintenance plants like succulents and ferns, plants that thrive in the summer heat.

Cluttered surfaces gather dust and make a room feel stuffy and hot, so clear the clutter and embrace a minimalist approach to your summer decor. Keep surfaces clear, and select simple, streamlined furniture that allows air to circulate freely. And finally, keep hydrated and add colour and elegance to your space by keeping a stylish jug of ice-cold water or a refreshing summer cocktail on hand, served in chic glassware, or indeed super-chic Italian poolside acrylic courtesy of Italian brand Memento Synth

STYLISH: Neutral fibres are perfect

PIC CREDIT: Mark Alexander fabrics

Sliding seamlessly outside

It’s tricky getting your outdoor spaces up to scratch. Sara Eski of SE Designs has some tips

INDOOR/outdoor living is the epitome of modern home design, seamlessly blending our indoor spaces with the natural environment.

It brings a resort-like feel to our everyday lives, reconnecting us with nature, but getting it right is often very tough. When envisioning this space (above), the focus was on providing an inviting and

entertaining atmosphere, while showcasing some of our favourite products. The design considered various zones that cater to different activities, such as relaxation by the pool or grilling up a feast for good company.

To evoke a tranquil mood, a tonal colour palette was carefully selected.

Laying terrazzo, concrete and a stone

veneer for the external finishes, provide a soothing ambience blurring boundaries of its natural surroundings. Bold prints were introduced in the soft furnishings to infuse vibrancy and visual interest.

These prints become focal points, breathing life into the space and add character and personality to the overall design.

1. 3-SEATER BASKET SOFA by Gubi

2. HAVEN, KENZO FABRIC by Thibaut

3. CLAY TABLE CERAMIC / GLASS TOP – OVAL by Desalto

4. BESPOKE TERRAZZO TILES by Huguet

5. COL.4 FORESTA, YOUNG AND LOVELY by Dedar fabrics

6. FLAIR O’ OUTDOOR CHAIR by B&B Italia

7. CONCRETE WORKS by Michael Roschach

8. MARRONE, BRAC by Mutina

9. OUTDOOR METAL SIDE TABLES by Vitra

10. FLAT CHILL BED 100 by Gandia Blasco

11. COL.6 GIARDINO, CAMPUS by Dedar fabrics

12. ELEKTRA PARASOL by Hommes Studio

MARXA AND MORE

Chiringuito is one of a trio of new summer experiences at upmarket So/Sotogrande Spa & Golf Resort

IT was one of the most exciting launches of the year, where a range of high society guests were treated to giant brochettes of beef, wild turbot and exquisite canapes.

But Marxa chiringuito is just one of three exciting new places to visit at Sotogrande’s hip So/Sotogrande Spa & Golf Resort.

The exclusive five-star hotel also counts on its wonderful gastronomic restaurant, Corti -

jo Santa Maria and IXO Tapas & Bar.

Cortijo Santa Maria 1962 is quickly gaining a big reputation for its traditional Andalucian cuisine, with a range of contemporary touches.

Led by executive chef Leandro Caballero,

OP QUICK CROSSWORD

Across

7 Feeler (8)

8 Evils (4)

9 Plaid (6)

10 Measurement system (6)

11 Parody (4,2)

13 Monopolize (6)

14 For each (3)

15 The girls from UNCLE? (6)

17 Resist (6)

19 Black Sea port (6)

21 Chopping sport (6)

23 Irish county (4)

24 Ran madly about in America (8)

Down

1 Act properly (6)

2 Let it stand (4)

3 German gin (8)

4 Quantity of paper (4)

5 Cover with decorative paper (4,4)

6 Mountain plant (6)

12 Outcome is in codemust be deciphered (8)

13 Dishes (8)

16 Third-largest ocean (6)

18 Glossy (6)

20 “Or to take --- against a sea of troubles ...” (Shakespeare, Hamlet) (4)

22 Dominion (4)

it represents a journey through Andaluz recipes, particularly using local and fresh ingredients. Meanwhile, IXO has more than 40 signature cocktails, alongside a range of ‘avant-garde tapas and music. There is lots of

live music this summer, open to tourists and locals alike, every Friday and Saturday from 9.30pm until midnight and until the wee hours in July and August. You’ll certainly be impressed with Marxa which specializes in grilled meats cooked on a five-metre-long-grill.

Wellness

“It’s excellent and we are focusing on all kinds of things, in particular local fish with the fantastic wild turbot for two amazing,” explained chef Caballero. The SO/ brand is renowned for its fashion collaborations, partnering with famous designers from Christian Lacroix to Viktor & Rolf.

It was set up by leading hospitality and lifestyle group Ennismore with the company Accor and has hotels in many major cities, including Vienna, Paris and Berlin. With bespoke spaces, signature tailoring and experiences, each hotel reflects the local culture it is found in. So/Sotogrande, which has 152 rooms and 36 suites, pays tribute to fashion, design, gastronomy and golf. It also has expansive gardens, a kid’s club and a fully functioning wellness sanctuary. Visit www.so-sotogrande.com for more information

All solutions are on page 15

COCKTAILS: There are over 40 on offer at IXO

X-MARKS THE SPOT: Hip new Marxa

GOURMET: Dish at Cortijo Santa Maria

Climate urgency

“WE all need to start acting with the urgency that an emergency demands,” Gibraltar’s Deputy Chief Minister has said about climate change.

Joseph Garcia was speaking at the start of the Aspire sustainable construction conference where public and private professionals met to learn how they could build greener.

He challenged delegates to ‘change the way things have traditionally been done’ in order to reach the Net Zero targets his government has set.

Accountable

The keynote speaker at the event was environmental campaigner Tony Juniper who was among a full line-up of top panellists.

In his opening address, Garcia spoke of his desire to see the government working with developers and contractors to put the local community first in the design of new buildings. He warned that ‘the private sector cannot simply put profit above quality of life’.

Under the keen eye of environment minister John Cortes, Gibraltar established an independent Climate Change Committee to oversee this work and hold the government accountable.

Bump in the road

Spain’s soaring industrial output hit by unexpected slump in April

SPAIN’S economic good times hit another bump in the road after preliminary data revealed an unexpected decline in the country’s industrial production in April.

The report, from national statistics agency INE, indicates that output across all sectors, except capital goods, contracted.

It marks a disappointing reversal from the 4.1% growth experienced in March, as economists had

By Walter Finch

hoped for a 1.5% increase.

In fact during April, industrial production decreased by 0.9% from last year.

On an unadjusted basis, industrial output fell by 4%, contrasting with the 5.4%recovery seen in the preceding month.

The contraction in industrial production was primarily driven by a significant 4.9% fall in the

SPAIN’S ‘menstrual leave law’ has come into force.

It means that women can now request paid medical leave when suffering from especially painful periods.

The measure was included in a new abortion law that came into force on June 1.

To request the leave, women will have to get a medical note from their doctor.

According to sources from the government, the law is not designed to cover regular period pain, but rather intense pain that is accompanied by symptoms such as fever or diarrhoea.

Once leave is approved by a doctor, the Social Security system will cover the woman’s salary from the first day that

No slap needed

FLIGHT attendants of a major Australian airline will no longer need to wear high heels or make-up.

Qantas, which in Spain operates to Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and Ibiza, says the new dress code is ‘fit for our times’.

The new policy also allows any cabin crew or ground staff to have long hair, wear diamond earrings, glasses with clear frames or jewellery, including watches.

However, the airline’s employees must continue to hide any tattoos and wear their name badges.

durable consumer goods division, closely followed by a 4.3% decrease in in-

Period leave

the period arrives.

This means that the woman’s employer will not have to cover the cost of the time missed.

The law does not limit the number of days leave available but the norm will be around three days given the usual time period of menstruation.

Figures from the Ministry for Economic and Social Inclusion suggest that there are around 6,000 temporary medical leaves granted every year in Spain due to dysmenorrhea (pain associated with menstruation) or abdominal distension.

WHAT ARE THE TAX BENEFITS OF INVESTING IN A QNUPS?

AQNUPS (Qualifying Non-UK Pension Scheme) is an offshore unapproved pension arrangement which satisfies the definition of a pension scheme as set out in Section 150 of The UK Finance Act 2004. It is classed as an unapproved pension arrangement because contributions made into the scheme are not eligible for UK tax relief. However, these schemes are fully recognised by HMRC as defined by UK legislation. QNUPS have become an increasingly popular investment vehicle for British expats in Spain looking to diversify their retirement savings.

A Qualifying Non-UK Pension Scheme can offer several tax benefits.

The Tax Benefits

Lump sum investments into the scheme are immediately outside of your estate for UK inheritance tax purposes whether you remain abroad or return to the UK.

If you nominate your spouse as a beneficiary, when you pass away, a Spanish succession tax liability is not triggered, provided the pension is drawn in the same tax efficient manner. When your spouse passes away, if your ultimate beneficiaries, say your children, live outside of Spain, no Spanish succession tax is due.

If you structure your pension income in the form of an annuity the effective tax rate is anywhere between 2% and 6% - dependent on the amount you draw as an income, the length of the annuity and progressive tax rates in your autonomous region.

Your investments can continue to grow within the pension structure free of Spanish capital

Our

gains tax.

It may offer asset protection against creditors and legal claims and in some cases may be exempt from claims made against you in bankruptcy. It provides a high degree of flexibility in terms of investment options enabling you to diversify risk and potentially increase your returns

Points to Consider:

Whilst there are no specific guidelines regarding the level of post-tax contributions you can make, these must be reasonable and commensurate with your overall wealth, earnings, age and future income requirements to avoid being captured by UK Income Tax anti-avoidance provisions.

To pay the minimal amount of tax on pension income your annuity contract must be fixed during your lifetime which means you must consider maximum income requirements at the outset. If you break your annuity contract pension income gets taxed at Spanish marginal rates.

The Spanish Tax Office is now insisting that annuities are paid out of an insurance policy. This means that pension assets must be held an insurance policy for greater tax efficiency. It's essential to seek professional advice and carefully consider all the pros and cons before making any decisions.

We are in the Costa del Sol fully available for meetings throughout the week from Sotogrande to Nerja and inland Andalucia.

termediate goods output. Meanwhile, production of energy items slid by 1.5%. However, there was a silver lining as the output of capital goods demonstrated resilience by advancing 3.2%.

Decline

Looking at the month-onmonth figures, industrial output experienced a substantial decline of 1.8% in April, in stark contrast to the 1.3% increase observed in March. This decline represents the largest drop in 13 months, adding to the surprise and concern surrounding Spain’s industrial sector performance.

Back in work

UNEMPLOYMENT in Spain is at its lowest level since 2008, just before the financial crash.

In May, the jobless total fell by almost 50,000, to 2,739,110. Over 200,000 new workers were registered in the Social Security system to make a total of 20,815,399 its highest number ever. Some 70% of the new jobs are within the services sector.

Our mission is to make the process of planning a funeral, in Spain, as easy and stress-free as possible. We are committed to providing affordable funeral plans with the highest quality of care and support.

Sing to survive

Tiktok star Chloe started singing at nine to get over an illness

LONDON-based rising music star, iamChloeMartinez, as she wishes to be known, spoke highly of her Gibraltar roots after getting a big following on social media. She said her singing career started at the age of nineyears-old when she was ill and singing helped her recover.

“When I was younger I dreamt of being a painter or helping animals as a vet, but

By John Culatto

it never crossed my mind that I was ‘born to sing’ until a near-death experience hit me,” she told The Olive Press.

“I was hospitalised at nine-years-old for several months and by singing I was able to get through my treatments and entertain myself and the nurses who

Llanito rules

RUNNER-UP in the Llanito section of a short story competition, Gabriel Moreno, revelled in the feeling of being able to write in the language of his youth.

The Poetry Brohe author told the Olive Press: “It’s been an immense joy to express myself in the language of my roots. “The story is a celebration of our singularity and randomness and a hope we can celebrate our peculiarities and perhaps also laugh at our shortcomings.”

Winner In the newl section of the Spring Festival short story competition ‘Madre No Ay Mah Ke Una’ (We only have one mother) by John Manuel Enriles took first prize.

looked after me.

“When I recovered, my parents put me into an academy to learn more and it all took off from there. She started composing songs from melodies, learnt more about music theory and started creating her own lyrics.

As a lesbian, she always strives for ‘visibility’ and being open about who she is, but found Gibraltar did not stifle her talent.

“Even though Gibraltar is so small compared to other places around the world, we are so lucky to be blessed with such an incredible combination of culture and creativity,” she said.

QUEER PRIDE

A QUEER artist of mixed roots from Gibraltar and Andalucia spoke out about his latest single ahead of the release of an EP later this year.

Saint Torrente said his ballad Adam talks about the devastation following the loss of intense love.

“The name Saint Torrente came from my last name, Torrente, and I wanted to put ‘Saint’ before it because it was a way for me to honour being queer and say out loud that I feel blessed to be queer,” he explained.

‘Adam’ marks a brave break in the music of this artist who left Gibraltar at the age of 18 to study music and has made his way onto the queer stages of London and Madrid.

“My work is heavily influenced by the culture I come from, the drag scene, and a legacy of queer people,” he said.

“In general, we are used to seeing queer artists as drag queens, as people who hide behind a mask.

“I was curious as to what the artist would be like after being aware of that shell and breaking it.

“I never left home, I simply carry it with me.” Her success on Tiktok during the pandemic gave her one of the biggest platforms for success.

“Social media has played a big part in sharing who I am and connecting with other people,” she said.

Debit

“I have been able to reach new audiences and make lifelong friends through it. After iamChloeMartinez released her first single ‘7654’ in January from her debut album ‘To me from me’ she now wants to go into music full time.

“It requires a kind of acknowledgment of vulnerability, as it does in any relationship, but you have to give in and accept that as a possibility.”

He named cultural figures Christopher Cortes and Julian Felice as his mentors growing up on the Rock.

“Personally I am very honored to be a Gibraltarian and to be in the midst of all these different cultures.

“As I am half Spanish, I feel half Andalusian and half Gibraltarian, so I understand something about what it is to exist in the middle.

“I think it is very valuable for me as a queer artist, a kind of recognition of uncertainty and of the nuances that I am very honored to have.”

AFTER a recent outbreak of salmonella sent a few people to hospital in Gibraltar, health chiefs have put forward some tips to stop people getting ill.

Public Health Gibraltar and the Environmental Agency came up with the advice to prevent food poisoning which they called ‘an unpleasant but self-limiting illness’.

Although for many it will just result in tummy aches and vomiting,

Masks off

MASK rules are now closer to pre-pandemic times than at any moment since COVID-19 first broke out in Gibraltar, health authorities have said.

Healthcare professionals, staff, patients and visitors are no longer required to wear masks in all areas of St Bernard’s Hospital. Masks are only required in ‘specific situations’ like when caring for patients with breathing problems.

Chiefs

The change came after health chiefs consulted UK experts and found there was very little risk to patients at this point.

“Patients may also request that staff wear a mask and the GHA view is that the choice of the individual should be respected in this regard,” the GHA added. Despite the further relaxing of mask rules, the GHA encouraged the community ‘to practice good respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette’ even if people are vaccinated.

SALMONELLA SCARE

‘for some it can be more serious’, the government agencies said in a statement. They mainly concerned egg safety, making sure they are well-cooked and avoiding cracked or dirty eggs. It also discussed barbecue food safety, thawing frozen meat slow -

Dear Jennifer:

The caring side

How Paul Cunningham Nurses was founded

ly in the fridge and throwing away food left at room temperature for more than two hours. The guidelines urge that raw meat, poultry and eggs be kept separate from other foods

The GHA also urged washing all utensils and barbecues before and after use.

CANCER SHOCK

Skin cancer cases soar by 40% in just four years

By Alberto Lejarraga

SHOCK new figures show that the number of skin cancer patients has risen by 40% in Spain in the past four years.

According to the Spanish Academy of Dermatology, over 78,000 cases are diagnosed every year, which means that 120 individuals in every 100,000 people suffer from skin cancer.

Within these figures, experts explain that 12 in every 100,000 individuals have Melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer.

However, they warn that in 2040, this form of skin cancer, which is by far the most dangerous, will become the second most common tumour, ahead of colon and lung cancer.

EBOLA SCARE

A WOMAN was given the all-clear for a suspected Ebola infection at a Basque Country hospital with tests showing she in fact had malaria.

Ebola is a serious and potentially fatal viral disease with a 50% mortality rate transmitted to humans through wild animals and then between people. The patient was admitted to the High Biological Security Unit of the Donostia University Hospital in San Sebastian on June 1 after recently returning to a trip to the Central African Republic. Spain has had just one recorded Ebola case when Galician nurse Teresa Romero contracted and overcame the disease in 2014.

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And it is expected to become the most common type of cancer in men by that year. Scientists point out that skin cancer is often caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation, which is already reaching dangerous levels in Spain.

Sunscreen

So they remind holidaymakers not to expose themselves to the sun for long periods and to always use sunscreen. “People spend the whole year working inside an office but when the summer holidays arrive, they go to the beach for the whole day. This sporadic, yet excessive exposure is particularly dangerous,” Eduardo Nagore, Head of the Valencian Institute of Oncology said.

Experts insist 95% of the cases can be prevented with basic measures such as using sunscreen.

The number of people suffering from this type of disease is not only increasing in Spain, but worldwide, with Australia being the country with the largest percentage of skin cancer patients.

PAUL Cunningham Nurses Charity was my vision. On my return to Spain after losing my son Paul to spinal cancer at the age of 33, I was shocked to learn that there was no hospice care nursing available in Spain.

As a successful business woman, operating eight offices throughout the Costa Blanca and Lanzarote, I have lived in Spain for over 30 years and understand the needs of the Ex-pat communities. Then I met the right people, in the right place at the right time, to start the charity in 2008. It was necessary to have a massive amount of fund raising and support to open the first charity shop in Quesada, which is still open and running.

Fundraising events included galas, dinner dances, raffle, with participants donating not only money, but time and services. Many of the venues and music were donated and every event was so enjoyable, and I tried to be present at many of these events. Without all this help, we wouldn’t be where we are today. The headquarters of the charity share an office in La Marina with my insurance office and we now have three charity shops, which along with friends and sponsors of the charity, raise the necessary funds to support the nurses in giving home care for terminally ill patients. We work very closely with Torrevieja hospital, which in all reality is a godsend for them, as they call us to inform us that there is a patient who needs the charity’s help to enable them to return home.

We have all types of equipment available for free of charge loans and the nurse allocated will have a brief from the hospital doctors regarding medication and patient requirements. We are not just there for the patient, but also there to help and support the family.

Despite the problems over the last few years, we are surviving but it isn’t easy. Fortunately I have a very steady pair of hands, acting on my behalf– thank you Chris.

My vision and my hope would be finding somebody, with the enthusiasm and talent to take the charity to the next level and extend coverage throughout all of the Costa Blanca and beyond, but I do feel that this is just a dream.

P LIVE RESS The O

Firework Palava

MALAGA residents were left fuming over the racket caused by the christening of a British cruise ship in the port. The crew smashed champagne and let off fireworks at midnight.

Kinky cafe

POLICE raiding a Madrid cafe after complaints of noise were surprised to find 60 people partying and a secret dark room used for orgies.

Chew that

A PAIR of thieves were arrested in Barcelona after stealing a luxury €70,000 watch by holding down the owner and chewing the strap off his wrist.

Hey Jude

REAL Madrid have boldly put aside their past trauma with English players to land the prized Birmingham-born midfielder Jude Bellingham for a nine-figure sum.

Beating off stiff competition from financially juiced Premier League clubs such as Manchester City and Chelsea - as well as PSG - they will stump up €103 million to sign Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund. The sum Madrid will hand over is second only to the €115 million they paid for horror

Real win race to sign wonderkid Bellingham

By Walter Finch

flop Eden Hazard - but more than the €94 million and €101 million they paid for Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale respectively. Although not a like-for-like replacement, Bellingham will be expected to fill the boots of

LOST IN TRANSLATION

AS Thor he may be able to smite his foes with lightning and tank a blast from a neutron star. But in real life, actor Chris Hemsworth cannot remember even a basic Spanish sentence. For the Hollywood hunk, 39, was caught having scrawled ‘Estoy muy feliz de estar en España’ on the palm of his hand while at a Madrid promo of his new movie Extraction 2. It translates as ‘I’m very happy to be in Spain.’ And this in spite of the fact that he has been married to Spanish model Elsa Pataky since 2010.

Ballon D’Or winner and Real Madrid icon Lukas Modric, now 37. The 19-year-old will line up next to other elite young tal-

MERRY BERRY

DAME Mary Berry, 88, swapped baking for dancing and went on a six-hour dash to Ibiza superclub Pacha. The Queen of Baking was whisked to the party island by TV chef James Martin, who recounted the tale to Holly Willoughby and Dermot O’Leary, filling the Phil-Schofield-shaped hole on This Morning’s sofa. And the cook-book author, born in 1935, was even seen throwing shapes and burning down the house on the dancefloor. She later called it ‘good fun’ and ‘terribly exciting’.

ent including Vinicius Junior (22), fellow Brazilian Rodrygo (22) and Frenchmen Eduardo Camavinga (20) and Aurelien Tchouameni (23).

Madridistas will hope Bellingham - a rising English star who has never played in the Premier League - will be more Steve McManaman than Johnathan Woodgate or Michael Owen. While the former won two Champions Leagues with los merengues, Woodgate did not play for over a year after his transfer due to injury, and when he finally made his debut he scored an own goal and then got sent off. Owen lasted just one season and spent most of it on the bench.

Trash behaviour

FIREFIGHTERS have rescued a young British tourist after he fell into an underground rubbish bin.

The young man had the misfortune of plummeting several metres into the pit housing the organic waste. The tourist, who suffered bruising but was otherwise unharmed, was freed from his sticky situation by Malaga firefighters after a 30 minute smelly ordeal.